E Government Project

Question:

Explain the academic context from which your research emerges. This applies both to theoretical and empirical research. This should involve a critical review of the existing theoretical and/or empirical literature(/s) as appropriate. 

Answer:

The governments around the world are looking to improve the delivery of government services through adoption of new technologies such as e government and m government (Alateyah et al. 2014). It has been mixed result some government has successfully implemented e government whereas others have failed to live up to the expectations. In the year 2005, the Government of Saudi Arabia has initiated the e government project Yesser. The goal of this project was to provide every citizen of Saudi Arabia access to government services online by the end of the year 2010. The resistance to change is the main challenge the project of e government faced as a result many of the e government projects got delayed or failed to be implemented. The m government is a complement of e government and is also adopted by government of Saudi Arabia for effective delivery of services. The m government is currently applied in the fields of weather update, traffic update, emergency assistance, tracking of lost vehicles, notification of taxes and bills etc (Alotaibi et al. 2016). The aim of this study is to analyze the critical success factors affecting the adoption and utilization of mobile in government in Saudi Arabia.

 Context

M government definition and types

The success of the e government project initiated by the government of Saudi Arabia was heavily dependent on the internet infrastructure of the country (Basamh et al. 2014). The problems like availability of internet connection and lack of penetration made it difficult for the government to provide unhindered services to their users (Walravens 2012). The promotion is the successful factor for e governance.  In order to counter this problem many researchers have suggested implementing M government for efficient and effective delivery of services. In the study conducted by Ibrahim Kushchu and M. Halid Kuscu “From E government to M government: facing the inevitable” it was clearly stated that development of new technology has resulted in the shift to M government from E government. The recent development of modern technologies like tablets, short message services, hand held terminals, cell phone and other technologies has provided more importance and prominence to m government (Rawat et al. 2014). M government is referred to as the use of mobile communication technologies for providing government services to the citizens. In this method, the government uses wireless technology to provide government services to the users through mobile services. It is to be noted that m government should be viewed as a subset of e government and a tool for government. The m government can help achieve the goals of e government by making use of the high rate of mobile phones among the citizens of the country. 

The M government is an extension of e government and it is of four types:

• Connecting governments with citizens that is M government to Citizen;

• Connecting governments with business that is M government to business;

• Connecting governments with employees that is M government to employees;

• Connecting government with its other sectors that is M government to government (Alshahrani and Alsadiq 2014).

Connection between M government and E government

The E government and M government are considered to be the same concept except it is believed that m government is an advanced form of e government. The m government is technologically dependent on e government so it should be inserted in the design of e government (Janssen and Estevez 2013). Therefore keeping in mind the relationship and interdependency between m government and e government the researchers recommend that the government of Saudi Arabia should employ m government model to implement e government services. The difference between e government and m government is that of access and delivery of the services. It is because e government uses wired technology whereas m government uses wireless technology therefore the mode of communication made all the difference (Weerakkody et al. 2013). The m government is gaining popularity because the cost involved in the infrastructure of e government is much less than that of e government. It should be noted that use of e government requires computer skills whereas in case of m government no special skill is to be learned. The computer skill that is required in the e government are data management, softwares for processing data etc. There is another important benefit of mobile government it is that it is helpful for patients. The patients suffering from chronic illness or homebound will find m government more accessible than e government. There are tremendous benefits that m government offers over e government (Alateyah et al. 2013). The benefits of the M government are:

• The m government provides economic opportunity and improvements;

• The m government increases productivity;

• The M government helps in providing better services;

Application of M government in Saudi Arabia

The M government has gained popularity in several countries for supporting the efficient delivery of services to the citizens. The popular m government applications are for weather updates, traffic updates, emergency assistance, tracking of lost vehicles, notification of taxes and bills etc (Alsenaidy and Ahmad 2012). Saudi Arabia has seen an immense growth of mobile phone usage among citizens. Therefore, it is prudent for government to provide services through mobile phones in order to reach the maximum number of people in minimum time. The government of Saudi Arabia provides services like health mobile, tracking information of higher education, appointment tracking and others. The m government application is at initial stage and there is a long way to cover until it attains maturity (Khan 2016). The success of m government is dependent on various personal factors such as age, gender, education, computer literacy, location and income. It has been found in many studies that people of young age are more comfortable in using mobile so m government is more popular among young age group (Basamh et al. 2014). The factors like education and computer literacy influences the popularity of m government in Saudi Arabia. The literacy rate in Saudi Arabia is more than 90% and smart phone penetration is also high as a result popularity of m government is also rising (Rana et al. 2015). 

Relationship between Trust and M government

The adoption of new technology is highly dependent on the trust the user has on those technologies. Many researchers have shown that there is a significant positive relationship between trust and m government (Nica and Potcovaru et al. 2015). The studies have shown that trust is a critical factor for economic and social interaction so lack of trust acts as a barrier for adoption of e government and m government initiatives (Al-Hujran et al. 2014). In order to make m government more popular the government is required to encourage its citizens to adopt online services particularly mobile services. 

Awareness

The awareness is a critical factor for the success of e government and m government. It can be seen that in Jordan e commerce could not be implemented due to lack of knowledge about e commerce among its citizens (Alssbaiheen and love 2016). Therefore it is important for the government to make its citizens aware of new technologies so that these could be successfully implemented for government. The government is required to initiate awareness programs to make their citizens aware of the benefits that the m government offers. 

Security

The sense of security affects the acceptance of new technologies. If it is believed by the citizens that the government websites are not safe then they will not use it because of the fear of theft of their personal data. The issue of security and privacy is most important problem in implementing the m government model (Yamin and Mattar 2016). It has been found in studies that security of the personal data is the primary barrier for adoption of mobile technologies. The primary obstacle is the data security (Dombrowski et al. 2017). The data security problem is very rampant across the globe. Therefore, to overcome this barrier the government should ensure protection of personal data and build confidence in the minds and hearts of its citizens.

Obstacles

The m government is useful and helpful for citizens therefore the general perception it should be rapidly implemented. In implementing m government, it faces certain obstacles. The first obstacle is the resistance to change that comes from the society. It is a common obstacle that any new idea or thing has to face. It takes huge patience in overcoming this obstacle and when this obstacle is overcome then a new trend is set. Another obstacle of m government is lack of awareness. The government should carry on awareness program of the services it has launched so that people can use these services and obtain its benefits. There is another obstacle in the path of m government that is data security. It is a very important problem because without a secured environment no confidential or monetary transaction can be done. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government to create a secure environment so that citizens can have confidence in the system of m government (Alateyah et al. 2013). 

M Government model

Centeno and others in 2004 developed a model for m government. It has three parts infrastructure creation, development of needed services and providing access to m services. The first part is dedicated in preparing the citizens for accepting the m government services. At this level, the primary duty of government is to develop more infrastructure regarding mobile technologies and create more awareness among people of the services. In the second part, government provides services to its citizens using m government services. It is the crucial stage if the government is successful in evaluating the needs of the citizens successfully then the citizens will also be able to fulfill their needs. In the third stage of the model, the government provides the necessary service that helps the citizens to easily access m services offered by the government (Rana et al. 2015). 

Yu and kusuchu demonstrate the importance of m government through three-dimension model in 2004.  These three parts are prime value, pleasure value and post value. The prime value is solving the problem and fulfilling the primary needs of the citizen. The pleasure value is presenting the better services to citizens (Sultana et al. 2015). 

It should also be noted that the implementation of the plan or model of m government depends on the specific conditions like readiness of citizens, political, social, and technological conditions. 

Research question

The technology acceptance model (TAM) states that beliefs are influenced by intentions and intentions influences ones actions. The technology acceptance model was used to measure the acceptance of new technology among users (Padilla-MeléNdez et al. 2013). TAM was developed by Fred Davis in 1989 and it is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Therefore based on the study and aim of the research model three external factors could be derived they are user’s intention, users experience and enjoyment.  The research questions are:

• Do perceived trust worthiness positively influences user’s intention to use m government applications?

• Do enjoyments have positive influence on the use of m government services?

• Do users experience positively influences the use of m government services?

The technology acceptance model was employed to identify the factor that affects the adoption of m government model in Saudi Arabia. 

Research

Empirical Research

The process of gaining knowledge through direct and indirect observation or experience is referred to as the empirical research. The evidences obtained through empirical research are known as empirical evidence and that can be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively (Yanow and Schwartz-Shea 2015). The qualitative method focuses on the phenomenon for gaining a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. The qualitative methods were employed in the study so that potential factors that influence the adoption of m government in Saudi Arabia could be studied. The qualitative research is primarily focused on descriptive data and not numbers therefore it is mainly useful for answering the research questions. In qualitative research the data are primarily collected by the researcher (Silverman 2016). 

In this research proposal, the interview questions designed were open ended so that critical factors affecting the adoption and utilization of m government in Saudi Arabia could be ascertained. In order to achieve the research aims semi structured interviews of experts were conducted. These experts were involved in the implementation of m government in Saudi Arabia. There are three types of interviews unstructured, structured and semi structured. The semi structured interviews were conducted in this research because it helps to investigate the topic in more details. A semi structured interview has two parts one is prepared question and the other part is improvisation. The prepared questions of semi structured interviews act as a frame work within which the research is to be conducted whereas improvisation part helps to conduct lateral thinking in order to gain more deep understanding about the subject. The semi structured interview allows more autonomy to both researcher and participants. The researcher in unstructured interview gets the liberty to ask for personal opinion of the participants and the participants can also express their opinion more freely (Galletta 2013). 

In this research proposal, the researcher followed the following procedure for conducting the interview. At the very beginning, the researchers introduced the topic and aim of the research to the participants. Then more general questions regarding e government and m government was asked to the participants. Then lastly particular questions regarding the factors influencing the adoption of m government model was asked in particular.  

The participants were chosen on the basis of purposive sampling. It is considered appropriate to use purposive sampling for obtaining data about an issue. The total sample size of 50 participants was chosen for the study.  The interviews with each participant were conducted for at least 40 minutes.  

The opinions of the experts were analyzed using thematic analysis. The main emphasis of thematic analysis is to pinpoint and examine data in order to establish a pattern or theme within the data. The thematic analysis can be divided into six phases and they are familiarization of data, generating preliminary codes, identification of themes, review of themes, naming and defining the themes and lastly producing the report. 

Theoretical Research  

There are various reports that have been introduced that identify the factors that influence the adoption of m government in Saudi Arabia. This study is focused on factors influencing the transition towards m government in the present context of internet awareness, existing infrastructure and existing laws and traditions. The m government has the power to make available the government services to all its citizens hence improving the service quality. In Saudi Arabia the m government model is in its early stage and therefore the government is required to pay more attention for its implementation. The Success Factor Model assumes that the sophistication in m government model is positively linked with the level of service delivered. There are five levels of m government delivery system according to sophistication they are initial basic wireless access, enhanced systems providing updated information’s, interactive allowing a formal interaction, transactional interface and lastly fully integrated interface. 

Research timetable

The use of mobile is rapidly increasing in Saudi Arabia. The data provided by the Information Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia shows that in 2014 the mobile penetration is about 170% (Alshahrani and Alsadiq 2014). The participants in the research have also confirmed that m government is the most excellent option for providing government services. There are few m government applications that have been launched but still it is in its early stage of evolution.

The trust has a huge impact on the adoption of new technology. There exists a strong positive relationship between trust and adoption of m government. It was confirmed in the research that many users avoid m government because they lack the trust on new technologies. In order to overcome this fear the government is required to inform the benefits of adopting m government and assure them of security. The data analysis has shown that usage experience also influences the adoption of new technologies. It was confirmed by the research that the success of m government is dependent on the user’s experience of whether the user finds it useful or not. The study has also shown that the enjoyment is the crucial factor for adopting new technologies. The research has confirmed that enjoyment has a positive influence on the adoption of m government. It was confirmed by the study that awareness is a crucial factor implementing m government. It was also found that a secured environment encourages the use of m government. In other words if the users feel that the personal data will not be secured by using government sites or application then they will not adopt m government. 

Conclusion

Based on the above discussion it can be concluded that the data were collected from semi-structured interviews and they were analyzed. In the study conducted, it was found that the adoption of m government in Saudi Arabia is influenced by potential factors like trustworthiness, experience of the users, security, enjoyment and awareness.  The factors that are identified in this study will be examined in other study so that factors influencing the adoptions of m government could be identified. ?

Reference

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